Archive for the 'Milwaukee Bucks' Tag Under 'Lakers' Category

MILWAUKEE - With nine games left in this struggle of a regular season, the Lakers look broken all over again.

Kobe Bryant staggered through a poor finish now with a bone spur in his left foot to go with his recently sprained left ankle, and Steve Nash sat out most of the second half with spasms in his right hip.

The Lakers lost to the Milwaukee Bucks on Thursday night, 113-103, with their two longtime superstar guards now in their 17th seasons hardly looking primed for the playoffs, assuming the Lakers do even hold on to their No. 8 spot in the Western Conference.

Bryant is scheduled to be examined by a foot specialist Friday after the Lakers arrive in Sacramento, where they play Saturday night. He was limping at times as he finished the loss to Milwaukee, with Lakers coach Mike D'Antoni holding Nash out most of the second half.

Nash expects to play Saturday night, but referred to the team's disappointing 37-36 record as "strange."

If this was just the second game of the season -- the spin Lakers coach Mike D'Antoni wisely has been trying to put on it as the Lakers try to climb back into the playoff picture -- then things actually look pretty promising for these two new Lakers.

The Lakers powered past the Milwaukee Bucks, 104-88, on Tuesday night and now have consecutive victories to carry into a bigger, better barometer Thursday night: defending NBA champion Miami.

"It's a good opportunity really to measure ourselves," Bryant said of the Heat game -- while noting how the Lakers got "torched" Friday night trying to compete with a top team in the Oklahoma City Thunder.

After circling toward the drain with six consecutive losses, the 17-21 Lakers found the sort of physical energy from Howard and perpetual creativity from Nash to make the game look right.

The Rockets have that 12th overall pick in Thursday's NBA Draft. They also have movable assets in 9-to-5 forward Luis Scola of Argentina, and disgruntled point guard Kyle Lowry, plus shooting guard Kevin Martin, an able and easy scorer coming off an injury-plagued season.

Martin and Scola were sent (on paper) to New Orleans in the Paul deal that the NBA nixed.

With the NBA trade deadline looming Thursday at noon, and all the possible excitement of big names changing teams, leave it to the Golden State Warriors to make a stinker for the ages.

Only the June 1980 Golden State deal that sent Hall of Fame center Robert Parish, and a draft pick who became Hall of Fame forward Kevin McHale, to the Boston Celtics for Joe Barry Carroll and Rickey Brown, can top what the Warriors did Tuesday.

They sent their best player by far, guard Monta Ellis (21.9 points, 6 assists per game), to the Milwaukee Bucks in a five-player deal that brought a guy with a broken ankle (Andrew Bogut) and a malcontent (Stephen Jackson) to Golden State.

Golden State also sent a young center/forward, Ekpe Udoh, and injured Kwame Brown to the Bucks. Udoh, if he only played against the Clippers, might be a Hall of Famer, too. He at least has potential, and is improving.

Phil Jackson used to judge teams' championship worthiness by a quick glance at their records on the road, where it's always harder to win.

The Lakers dropped 1-7 on the road in this post-Jackson season with their 100-89 loss Saturday night in Milwaukee against a Bucks team missing Andrew Bogut (ankle) and Stephen Jackson (suspension).

Consider the Lakers' peers at the bottom of the NBA in road performance: Washington is 0-8, Detroit is 1-8 and Charlotte is 1-10. Not the kind of company you want to keep.

The Lakers need a victory Sunday night in Minnesota to avoid matching the franchise's worst road start of all time -- which came in 2002 while Shaquille O'Neal was sitting out after toe surgery. That team got O'Neal back and still won a third consecutive NBA title with Jackson.

There's no Shaq attack on offense coming to save these Lakers. They set a new franchise low already Saturday night by failing to score at least 100 points for the 13th consecutive game, which had never happened in the shot-clock era for the Lakers.

EL SEGUNDO -- The Los Angeles Lakers aren't used to being this humbled in their house the past two games, because it has never happened before.

The Lakers' 19-point home loss to Milwaukee was followed by a 16-point home loss to Miami. Never before in Los Angeles history have the Lakers been beaten in consecutive home games by at least 16 points each time.

It happened twice to the Minneapolis Lakers, although there was a road game in between the home games both times that happened in 1959.

The Lakers star wasn't hurt, but the fender-bender did contribute to the Lakers' off-kilter day Tuesday that ended in a 98-79 loss to the lowly Milwaukee Bucks.

"We had kind of a disjointed day today and that contributed to it," Jackson said of the team's loss. "There were some things that happened."

The flu bug and a minor car accident can't be blamed for everything the Lakers did and didn't do against the Bucks. They didn't move the ball, they stood around too much, Kobe Bryant was ejected late in the game after receiving his second technical and they couldn't stop 5-foot-5 Earl Boykins from scoring 22 points.

Milwaukee mimicked the fast pace that lifted Denver and Phoenix past the Lakers, but after hitting six of eight shots from 3-point range to start, the Bucks then made 3 of 16 to finish the game.

Brown was also active defensively down the stretch, filling in as Ron Artest nursed what appeared to be a sore right hip. Artest played just 18 minutes, and with another game coming up Wednesday night in Detroit, the Lakers also will benefit from Lamar Odom (35 minutes), Bryant (33), Derek Fisher (25) and Artest not having to go too long.